NEW YORK (Reuters) - Beloved actress Mary Tyler Moore will undergo brain surgery to remove a benign tumor, a representative for the 74-year-old actress said on Thursday.

"Mary Tyler Moore went in for an elective surgery to remove a meningioma, which is a benign tumor of the lining tissue of the brain (not a brain tumor)," her spokeswoman Alla Plotkin said in a statement.

"At the recommendation of her neurologist, who has been monitoring this for years, and a neurosurgeon, Mary decided to proceed with this fairly routine procedure," Plotkin said. She did not say where the surgery would take place.

Moore is best known her role as the perky 1960s housewife of comedian Dick Van Dyke in "The Dick Van Dyke" show, and the liberated single working woman in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in the 1970s.

She was also Oscar-nominated for her performance as an icy mother struggling to connect with her son in the 1980 movie "Ordinary People".

Moore has suffered from diabetes for many years and raises funds and awareness of the debilitating disease.

Coincidentally, she was seen on Thursday on the daytime TV talk show "Rachel Ray" in a pre-taped appearance, chatting and laughing with Van Dyke who is promoting his recent autobiography.

Meningioma is a tumor that arises in the membranes surrounding the brain and are usually non-cancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic. They occur mostly in older women and can exist for years without showing significant symptoms.